Úlfur – “Fovea”
Úlfur is a well-traveled musician with some noteworthy accomplishments under his belt: Born in Luxembourg, raised in Iceland, educated in California, and based in NYC, he’s worked with Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi, Ólöf Arnalds, and Anna Von Hauswolff in addition to his own acclaimed output as a composer. (In 2013, the International Rostrum of Composers named him their Young Composer of the Year.) He’s releasing an album called Arborescence next month, and today we present a tantalizing preview track called “Fovea.” The Sigur Rós association will be clear enough due to the song’s ethereal qualities and its breathless widescreen scope. But where that band veers toward intense melodrama, Úlfur opts for a gentler, more serene version of chamber pop that reminds me of S. Carey and Loney, Dear. It’s like the sound of wind whisking through fine-tuned machinery, brisk and gorgeously dense without making a big show of it. Listen below.
Arborescence is out in October on figureight.